Welcome to our first issue of the Language Exepress!

Henry IV plays an important role in the first tetralogy of Shakespeare’s chronicles and individual plays. After reading Henry VI(Parts 1-3) and Richard III, I discovered that there was a distinct difference between the characterization of these two plays: in Richard III, main characters are portrayed through monologues/dialogues. For example, Richard’s vehement expression of “love” towards Lady Anne reveals his Machiavellian evilness through the use of persuasive argument. Differently, in Henry IV, what’s more attractive to me is the supporting role rather than Shakespearean language. Falstaff and Hotspur are perhaps even more powerful creations than Hal the protagonist. Those two supporting roles are fleshed out as three-dimensional round characters: Falstaff is greedy, epicurean, hedonistic, boastful yet shrewd, seasoning the austere history play with anecdotes and joking. Hospur, as a potential usurper of the throne, is depicted as irritable, audacious, decisive but doomed to failure due to foolhardiness and weakness in power. Admittedly, these supporting characters are flawed; however, readers read about many adorable personalities in them, which make the characters even absorbing.

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The reading of Henry IV reminds me of three main issues: The authority / validity of the existing throne and the in/justice of its being overthrown (usurpation and usurpers); The destructiveness of wars; The mingling of high and low. Perhaps the most important moral lesson grown out from the protagonist Prince Hal is about the ambiguity of good and evil, the dual nature of human beings: the good is flawed and the villain is tempered with positive qualities. Explaining his dissolute behaviour, Prince Hal compares himself to the sun “smothered up his beauty” by “the base contagious clouds”(Act 1, Scene 2, 189-197). The political strategy which he uses to “falsify” others’ expectations is that by hiding his virtues from the public, he is accumulating power steadily in order to startle the public one day with greater astonishment. It proves that Hal has every virtue that makes both a great ruler and a great man---honesty, bravery, loyalty, generosity, intelligence and compassion. But his flaws which counter those virtues make him a realistic character. “Flawed goodness” is an important moral issue the the character of Prince Hal gives its readers.

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Successful characterization contributes to the vitality of Henry IV. Apart from distinct personalities it portrays, Shakespearean characterization leaves its readers more startling facts of how that particular personality we’ve read in Shakespearean plays finds similarity with our own. With an effort of introspection, we can develop more critical reflections of why the characters are who they are now.

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Work Cited:

Shakespeare, William. Henry IV, ed. David Bevington. Oxford University Press(1998): Act 1 Scene 2.